Houlihan Lokey Advises Hoffman Southwest Corp.

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce the sale of Hoffman Southwest Corp. (HSW), a portfolio company of Sterling Partners, to ORIX Capital Partners, LLC. The transaction closed on January 31, 2017.

HSW is a rapidly growing provider of water flow inspection, repair, and cleaning services, with a leading market position in the western United States. The company provides underground pipe inspection, excavation, and cleaning services for municipal and utility customers under the Pro-Pipe® brand, and plumbing, drain cleaning, trenchless pipe repair, and water restoration services for commercial and residential customers as the largest franchisee of the Roto-Rooter® brand.

Sterling Partners is a growth-oriented private equity firm headquartered in Chicago, with more than $4 billion of assets under management. Founded in 1983, Sterling focuses on investing growth capital in middle-market companies within the healthcare services and business services industries—the latter of which is dedicated to industrial services, commercial services, and logistics. Sterling provides valuable support to the management teams of the companies in which the firm invests through a deep and dedicated team of professionals, including a strong network of outside directors and advisors.

A subsidiary of ORIX USA Corporation, ORIX Capital Partners is a New York-based private equity firm that seeks to invest in equity capital in a variety of industries and special situations in North America. ORIX USA Corporation is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based ORIX Corporation (TSE: 8591; NYSE: IX), a global company with a diverse portfolio of businesses in the operations, financial services, and investment spaces with approximately $20 billion in market capitalization and $98 billion in total assets.

This transaction highlights Houlihan Lokey's position as the preeminent advisor in both the industrials and business services sectors and our ability to deliver exceptional results to our clients. The unique collection of services within the HSW business played well to Houlihan Lokey's diverse, complementary strengths with companies in the water/wastewater end market, that provide pipeline integrity and facilities management services, and that incorporate franchisor/franchisee models.